08/11/2026
Working with a big corporate is the ultimate test for a startup with real ambitions. A major client can mean market validation, real revenue, and a reference that opens other doors. In practice, making it happen is far harder than it looks.
Exactly one month ago, at the latest Open Innovation Club, organized by Mind the Bridge at Land in Bo, Bologna, the Open Innovation Breakfast brought together several insights on what it actually takes for a startup to work with a big corporate.
Our Chairman Alberto Onetti moderated a conversation between Claudia Berti, Chief Innovation Officer at Pelliconi after years in R&D and Innovation at Barilla, and Eda Fetahu, now leading Le Village by Crédit Agricole in Padua. He came back with five barriers, and not one of them was technical.
👉 Swipe through to discover the five barriers.
🔗 Full article in bio.
1️⃣ Do you know who actually owns the problem you’re solving? ⬇️
Business units, technical teams, decision layers: a startup often knows the problem better than the company does. But without someone to translate between those layers, the right pitch lands on the wrong desk.
But is the timing actually on your side?
2️⃣ Is the timing actually right, or does it just look right from the outside? ⬇️
No urgency, no budget, no bandwidth: a genuinely good solution can stay invisible for reasons that have nothing to do with the product.
Timing sorted, so who’s really driving this conversation?
3️⃣ Are you pushing a solution, or answering a need the company already knows it has? ⬇️
Startups tend to lead with the solution. Corporates move when a business need comes first. The collaborations that go somewhere start from a problem the company already knows it has, not a technology someone is trying to place.
Even the right need doesn’t guarantee a yes. What’s actually stopping it, then?
4️⃣ Is the real obstacle the technology, or what happens after someone approves it? ⬇️
“Not invented here” is older than any technology it rejects. Add incentives that reward avoiding mistakes over taking risks, and a strong product can stall for reasons nobody puts in wri
